Late at night, outside the underground passage of Sacred Mountain City, the mountains lay beneath thick snow, clad in silver and white. Moonlight spilled across the snow, reflecting a faint silvery glow.
The bitter wind swept up flurries of snow, and an icy chill filled the air.
Li Chen drew a deep breath of cold air. His exhalation instantly turned to white mist and dispersed in the wind.
This place was clearly far colder than the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty.
Li Chen's steps were steady and firm, crunching through the snow with squeaks that sounded especially clear in the silent night.
Late Breeze True Person followed close behind, his expression grave as his sharp gaze swept their surroundings.
Li Ling and several soldiers of the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty walked ahead, leading them toward the entrance to the underground passage.
Too many people would make their tracks easy to discover, so Li Chen had only brought Late Breeze True Person along. After all, the man was obsessed with breaking formations and determined to settle the score for the losses he had suffered at Tuoba Zhen's hands.
The entrance lay beneath a cliff, and reaching it required crossing some extremely dangerous terrain.
For those present, however, that posed little difficulty.
As they approached their destination, the cave entrance Chen Xuannan had cleverly discovered gradually came into view.
They crossed the cliff effortlessly and entered the underground passage.
The secret passage was dark and cold, its air thick with a damp, musty smell.
It was pitch-black inside the cave. They lit torches and advanced cautiously, afraid of alerting any guards within.
Still, a place like this, meant as the Khan's escape route, would generally have no guards. Their presence might expose its location.
Li Chen and the others proceeded inside without trouble.
Jagged rocks